Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 397
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[Page 397]
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male students provided sandwiches and tid-bits for a light supper, and most of the beer and wine was brought by the men. The music for the dancing was shared by those able to play the piano or other suitable musical instruments. Undergraduates of all other faculties were welcome, and the usual price of a ticket was 2/6d, sufficient to cover the cost of lighting and cleaning of the hall, and also some of the refreshments. These simple dances were very enjoyable, more so than many grander balls I attended before and since.
Two or three times a year there was a smoke concert in the Union Hall, the price of a ticket being five shillings, for beer, cigarettes and the fees of a couple of professional entertainers at the piano. These were rather rowdy functions and some of [the] students got very drunk (comatose or bellicose) on very little beer consumption.
On an average of once a month, some notable personage, often from overseas, gave a lunch-hour talk in the Union Hall. Ones I remember were Betram [Bertram] Mackennal, the sculptor, and Adams, the well-known American educationalist.
Every Winter, a lavish, dress-up, big ball was held by all the faculties combined, for which a double ticket cost a couple of guineas, drinks not included.
At the end of second Year, in mid-December, we sat for our finals in Mathematics II, Technology (Industrial Chemistry), Organic Chemistry I, Physics II, Engineering Design II and Materials and Structures I. Again, I passed in all subjects with another high distinction in Engineering Design.
As soon as the examinations were over, I went home to "Rosedernate" again for the vacation, to be a factotum in Dad's office and do odd-jobs of gardening and maintenance around the place. I paid a couple of visits to the "Frenchmans" to see how the lessee was fulfilling his obligations in regard to maintenance of fencing or other improvements, and the suppression of rabbits and noxious weeds.
In Third Year, study of the several branches of engineering